(Nov. 11, 2011 - by Ralph Kurtenbach and Harold Goerzen) After concluding its work at the charred facilities of what had served as studios for the Christian broadcaster ELWA in Monrovia, Liberia, a forensics team allowed station staff to return to the facilities where broadcasts have resumed from a standby studio near the undamaged FM transmitter.
 “The government’s forensic division had controlled the scene and quarantined the station as a potential crime scene. No cause has been determined,” said Ben Colby, an SIM missionary in an interview with HCJB Global. Colby handles logistical matters for the station.
“We’re working hard to communicate that it’s too early to make any speculations,” he said. “An electrical fire has not been ruled out; arson has not been ruled out. Until [the forensic team] finishes their investigation, there is no use speculating on anything.”
Just before 10 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8, smoke began wafting through the vents of ELWA’s studio building. When the on-air announcer and a security guard investigated, smoke was already filling the whole building.
“The two of them began to call for help, including ELWA security and other critical personnel,” Colby said. “By the time I arrived there, the whole building was engulfed in flames.”
 Quick responders included the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), the Liberian National Police (LNP), the Emergency Response Unit and the Crime Investigation Division.
Liberia’s Fire Service arrived too, with limited tanker capacity on its truck, said Colby, adding that the station’s location in Paynesville required at least a half-hour drive back to Monrovia to refill the tank.
“They worked from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., going back and forth, putting water on the flames,” Colby said. The following day (Wednesday, Nov. 9), ELWA was back on the air on a limited schedule using portable studio equipment at its transmitter site.
 “Many pastors and other people have been involved with ELWA for the last number of years and are excited about getting us back up and running. A lot of people are saddened about what has happened,” Colby related. “Most people are very anxious to rebuild and move on, but at the same time they’re very saddened and discouraged that this happened again to ELWA.”
He added that ELWA staff members are thankful that people elsewhere in the world are praying for the station, its ministry and the staff. “In the coming weeks we will let you know more tangible ways in which people can help with the rebuilding,” Colby said.
The fire occurred shortly after Liberia’s presidential run-off election in which voter turnout appeared low. A boycott of the election had been called by opposition candidate Winston Tubman who alleged the election was tainted by fraud. Sometimes violent clashes occurred between Tubman backers and supporters of incumbent President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Monday.
 Steve Kejr, a missionary with SIM based in the U.S., said that ELWA’s shortwave transmitter, installed by HCJB Global in 2000, is not operational, but not due to the fire. Earlier this year, thieves stole copper wire for the antenna and other equipment. Kejr served at ELWA from 1970 to 1997 when missionaries were evacuated due to civil strife. This year he spent eight months at the station in Paynesville, a neighborhood of Liberia’s capital, Monrovia.
“Staff members were able to scrounge around and find some wire and equipment, but then that was stolen too!” he said of the station’s difficulties this year. “They’re working to improve the security of the antenna, improving the fence, installing lights and maybe encasing some of the wire in concrete.”
ELWA programming consists of several English-language broadcasts per day, along with 1½ hours of programming in languages indigenous to the area, including Grebo, Kru, Gola, Bassa, Kpelle, Kissi, Dan, Krahn and Loma. ELWA is almost entirely funded locally with most of its income stream generated through the sale of public service announcements and requests, coupled with donations.
 Recent history has seen the station rise from the ashes before. In 1990, staff evacuated after fighters of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) clashed with government troops on the ELWA campus which was overrun and had its facilities ransacked. Serving as SIM missionaries there at that time, Lee Sonius and his wife, Michelle, were evacuated with others serving at the radio station and hospital. The Soniuses now live in Accra, Ghana, where Lee directs HCJB Global’s Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Office.
Liberian and missionary staff members returned in 1991 to reopen the ministries, only to flee again amid renewed fighting in Monrovia in April 1996. The Soniuses were again among the evacuees. When staff members returned to Monrovia in 1997, ELWA resumed its ministries, working with its primary partners, the ELWA Ministries Association (EMA) and the Evangelical Church Union of Liberia.
Photo credits: http://twitpic.com/7chabd, ELWA
Sources: ELWA, HCJB Global, BBC News, Mission Network News
HELP REBUILD ELWA
click here to give now
|
